I guess I like the simplicity of assessing in a STAR-like fashion, which removes my own optimistic grading of short-response questions. (You know, when the student writes three squared equals six but deep down I want to give him some points anyway for at least multiplying correctly.) I guess I just respect how the STAR assesses math, and you’re right — language arts is a whole different game.

But moving a student from FBB to Proficient? Don’t get me wrong, I really want to be able to do that. I work hard at it. But I’m finding more and more that the majority down in FBB have deeper problems. Like, they don’t know how to multiply. Or how to add fractions. So they might actually be learning Geometry from me, but they’ll never be able to show it because they can’t make the numbers work. That’s a tough situation.

mrc, I think you’re right which is part of the reason I posted this. I am in favor of testing to some extent. I certainly want something in my classroom that can tell me if I’m doing a good job or not. As for the relativity you suggest, I don’t know if that always translates. It might for math, but I can see it failing to do so in language arts, where things are not as cut and dry, not as objective. I think a student can move to Proficient in Geometry if that student finally pays attention and doesn’t smoke a bowl the morning of STAR that year. That’s a large part of my point: students are blowing off STAR, not necessarily unprepared for it.

Giving a STAR-like test every month? Yuck! I’d hate that. It’s not often that knowledge will be tested this way once they leave academia. Are we preparing kids for life or for more school when we prepare them for standardized tests? I’m far more for students applying their knowledge to problems that exist in the real world as often as I can. At the very least, students should be able to demonstrate their knowledge in other ways than a standardized test. STAR-like tests should be given more than once a year, but every month sounds gross to me.

What I think Dan has done a good job of is making your list at least partially a reality in his classroom with his own assessments. Now if we could give STAR-like tests every month and get the results immediately, that would be a starting point for me. Personally I think that the STAR test is a fair test for math concepts, and so it passes on your first point. It doesn’t resort to preset question templates like the NY Regents. It doesn’t ask many off-topic questions or require weird random knowledge. I think it’s a pretty fair test, as far as they go. Most of the rest of your points are about timing and about what we as teachers can do with the results. And I generally agree.

One caveat: showing how well or poorly a teacher has taught a course is not just a function of the scores! It’s a function of the scores relative to the scores those same students had on previous tests of foundational knowledge and prerequisites for the course. It’s pretty hard to make Proficient in Geometry from Far Below Basic in Algebra I, even with outstanding teaching.